Monday, October 30, 2006

Puck Pilgrims

Now this sounds like a lot of fun to me...

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. - The final leg of an international tour stopped at Cambria County War Memorial Arena on Saturday night.

But no big-name rock star was in town.

No monster truck show or Disney on Ice production, either.

Instead, four hardcore hockey fans from Norway parked a RV a few blocks from the arena and marched into the building where "Slap Shot" was filmed.

These guys came for the Johnstown Chiefs' ECHL game against the Cincinnati Cyclones. But of perhaps greater significance, "The Do It Right or Don't Do It At All Tour" concluded in the Flood City after 14 days and approximately 3,200 miles at a cost of about $3,000 per man.

"It's usually 10 days, but this time it's 14 days and we decided to try to see as many leagues as possible," said Jon Manum of Sarpsborg, Norway. "Sometimes we try to do as many NHL teams as possible. This time we switched it around a little bit and this is the last game."

This fall's tour opened on Oct. 18 at Madison Square Garden as the NHL's New York Rangers played the Nashville Predators.

There were visits to cities with teams in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, the Ontario Hockey League, Central Hockey League and American Hockey League.
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